Phycotoxin

Phycotoxins are complex allelopathic chemicals produced by eukaryotic and prokaryotic algal secondary metabolic pathways. More simply, these are toxic chemicals synthesized by photosynthetic organisms. These metabolites are not harmful to the producer but may be toxic to either one or many members of the marine food web. This page focuses on phycotoxins produced by marine microalgae; however, freshwater algae and macroalgae are known phycotoxin producers and may exhibit analogous ecological dynamics.
In the pelagic marine food web, phytoplankton are subjected to grazing by macro- and micro-zooplankton as well as competition for nutrients with other phytoplankton species. Marine bacteria try to obtain a share of organic carbon by maintaining symbiotic, parasitic, commensal, or predatory interactions with phytoplankton. Other bacteria will degrade dead phytoplankton or consume organic carbon released by viral lysis. The production of toxins is one strategy that phytoplankton use to deal with this broad range of predators, competitors, and parasites. Smetacek suggested that "planktonic evolution is ruled by protection and not competition. The many shapes of plankton reflect defense responses to specific attack systems". Indeed, phytoplankton retain an abundance of mechanical and chemical defense mechanisms including cell walls, spines, chain/colony formation, and toxic chemical production. These morphological and physiological features have been cited as evidence for strong predatory pressure in the marine environment. However, the importance of competition is also demonstrated by the production of phycotoxins that negatively impact other phytoplankton species.
Flagellates are the principle producers of phycotoxins; however, there are known toxigenic diatoms, cyanobacteria, prymnesiophytes, and raphidophytes. Because many of these allelochemicals are large and energetically expensive to produce, they are synthesized in small quantities. However, phycotoxins are known to accumulate in other organisms and can reach high concentrations during algal blooms. Additionally, as biologically active metabolites, phycotoxins may produce ecological effects at low concentrations. These effects may be subtle, but have the potential to impact the biogeographic distributions of phytoplankton and bloom dynamics.

Potential ecological effects

Anti-grazing effects

Phycotoxins may prevent grazing by several mechanisms: grazer death, infertility, or deterrence.
Some evidence of anti-grazing effects:

Teegarden found that three different species of copepods were able to distinguish between a saxitoxin-producing Alexandrium sp. and morphologically similar non-toxigenic Alexandrium sp. by chemosensory means. These three different copepod species grazed predominantly on the non-toxigenic Alexandrium spp. and avoided the saxitoxin-producer. However, the effect of saxitoxin deterrence varied per copepod species. This implies that saxitoxin producing Alexandrium sp. have an advantage over non-toxigenic dinoflagellates.
Miralto et al. reported a low hatching success of eggs laid by copepods that fed on diatoms containing polyunsaturated aldehydes. When ingested by copepods, these aldehydes appear to arrest embryonic development. This has the potential to decrease the future population of copepods and promote the survival of copepods which do not eat as many diatoms.
Anti-microbial effects

Phycotoxins production may be useful to ward off parasitic or algicidal heterotrophic bacteria.
Some evidence of anti-microbial effects:

Bates et al. was able to enhance domoic acid production in Pseudo-nitzschia multseries with the re-introduction of bacteria. Additionally, P. multiseries cultures which were completely axenic, produce less domoic acid than P. multiseries cultures which have contained bacteria for several generations.
Sieburth found acrylic acid inhibited gut microflora in penguins. High concentrations of acrylic acid were ingested by penguins via their euphasid diet, which had been feeding on Phaeocystis. The antimicrobial effect of acrylic acid was verified by Slezak et al. who concluded that acrylic acid will inhibit bacterial production in situations where phytoplankton form aggregates. However, acrylic acid production may also serve to keep bacteria away from the phytoplankton in more dilute concentrations.
Competitive effects

Since many different species of phytoplankton compete for a limited number of nutrients, it's possible that phycotoxin production is used as a method to either kill competitors or to keep other phytoplankton out of the producer's nutrients space.
Some evidence of competitive effects:

Graneli showed that Prymnesium spp. will produce phycotoxins which kill competitors under nitrogen or phosphorus limitation.
Fistarol et al. found that Alexandrium spp. produce toxins which decrease the growth rate of other phytoplankton and change community composition.
Prince et al. showed that chemical exudates from the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis decreased the growth rate and sometimes killed competitor species by decreasing their photosynthetic efficiency and increasing membrane permeability.
List of known phycotoxins and mechanisms of action

Most characterized phycotoxins have some economic or health impact on humans. Other well-studied phycotoxins are potential or existing pharmaceuticals or have some use in cellular research. Therefore, our level of knowledge on individual toxins does not necessarily reflect their ecological relevance. Additionally, the mode of action and level of toxicity are effects that have been documented in macroorganisms. These modes of action may be different in the pelagic marine environment. However, it is unlikely that the synthesis of complex and energetically expensive chemicals should be conserved over evolutionary time if they do not confer some advantage on the producer. Even if we do not yet know the effect of many toxins in their natural environment, their mere presence and impressive diversity indicates that they do serve some ecological purpose.
The phytoplankton species listed below do not encompass the entire range of known toxigenic species. There exists experimental evidence for phytoplankton species that have inhibitory effects on grazers or other phytoplankton species, but their toxins have not been identified.
Table generated using information from Cembella, Shimizu

Toxin group	Toxin producing species	Class	Characteristics	Mode of action	Structure
Domoic acid	Pseudo-nitzschia spp.	Bacillariophyceae	Hydrophilic N-toxin	Glutamate receptor agonist
Saxitoxins	Alexandrium spp., Pyrodinium bahamense, Gymnodinium catenatum	Dinophyceae	Hydrophilic N-toxin	Na⁺-channel blocker
Saxitoxins	Anabaena spp., Aphanizomenon spp., Cylindrospermopsis spp., Lyngbya spp., Planktothrix spp., Oscillatoria spp.	Cyanobacteria	Hydrophilic N-toxin	Na⁺-channel blocker
Ciguatoxin	Gambierdiscus toxicus	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Na⁺-channel activator
Gambieric acid	Gambierdiscus toxicus	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether
Maitotoxins	Gambierdiscus toxicus	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Ca²⁺-channel effector
Osterotoxin	Ostreopsis lenticularis	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Unknown
Cooliatoxin	Coolia monotis	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Unknown
Brevetoxins	Karenia brevis, K. brevi-sulcata	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Na⁺-channel activator
Brevetoxins	Chatonella marina, C. antiqua, C. cf. verruculosa	Raphidophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Na⁺-channel activator
Yessotoxins	Protoceratium reticulatum, Lingulodinium polyedrum	Dinophyceae	Ladder-frame polyether	Affects cyclic AMP, cytotoxic
Okadaic acid and dinophysistoxins	Dinophysis spp., Prorocentrum spp.	Dinophyceae	Linear polyether	Protein phosphatase inhibitor
Pectenotoxin	Dinophysis fortii, D. acuta	Dinophyceae	Macrocyclic polyether	Unknown, hepatotoxic
Azaspriracids	Protoperidinium crassipes	Dinophyceae	Linear polyether	Unknown, neurotoxic
Gymnodimine	Karenia selliformis	Dinophyceae	Macrolide	Unknown, potentially neurotoxic
Prymnesins	Prymnesium parvum	Prymnesiophyceae	Linear polyether	Unknown, potential Ca²⁺-channel effector
Spirolide	Alexandrium ostenfeldii	Dinophyceae	Macrocyclic polyether	Muscarinic receptor or cholinesterase inhibitor
Ostreocin	Ostreopsis siamensis	Dinophyceae	Linear polyether	Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase disruptor
Amphidinolide, Caribenolide	Amphidinium spp.	Dinophyceae	Macrocyclic polyether	Cytotoxic
Goniodomin	Alexandrium spp.	Dinophyceae	Macrocyclic polyether
Prorocentrolide	Prorocentrium lima	Dinophyceae	Macrocyclic polyether
Scytophycins	Scytonema spp.	Cyanobacteria	Linear polyether	Cytotoxic
Tolytoxin	Tolypothrix conglutinata var. colorata	Cyanobacteria	Linear polyether	Microfilament-depolymerizing agent
Debromoaplysiatoxin	Lyngbya majuscula	Cyanobacteria	Linear polyether	Protein kinase C activator
Amphidinols, Amphiketide	Amphidinium spp.	Dinophyceae	Open-chain polyketides	Antifungal
Majusculamides, Curacins	Lyngbya majuscula	Cyanobacteria	Open-chain polyketide	Microtubulin assembly inhibitor
Bacillariolides	Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries	Bacillariophyceae	Eicosanoid	Phospholipase A₂ inhibitor
Lyngbyatoxins	Lyngbya majuscula	Cyanobacteria	Prenylated amino acid derivative	Protein kinase C activator
Polyunsaturated aldehydes		Bacillariophyceae	Polyunsaturated aldehydes	Anti-mitotic, apoptosis
Euglenophycin	Euglena sanguinea	Euglenoidea	Polyketide
Karlotoxin	Karlodinium veneficum	Dinophyceae	Polyketide / Polyether
Karmitoxin	Karlodinium armiger	Dinophyceae	Polyketide / Polyether

Phycotoxin

Potential ecological effects

Anti-grazing effects

Anti-microbial effects

Competitive effects

List of known phycotoxins and mechanisms of action